electrics

Once you have your shed network established you can worry about the important business of watching youtube videos of cats on a big screen TV. You can: install an aerial pay your cable company to add another connection (and dig up your lawn) use t’internet I have gone for the later, since all the main … Read more

The wifi signal from the house does not quite reach the shed – I imagine this is a common problem for people with sheds/workshops/offices at the end of the garden. The best solution is to run ethernet cable but this can be a major hassle, particularly if, like me, your router is at the front of the … Read more

all wired up and live, the sequence of events was: mark in the building where the fittings will go (me) First fit wiring (electrician) Plasterboarding (me) cut holes for fixtures, fit back-boxes and pull cables through (me) lay SWA cable from shed to house (me) feed SWA cable from garden through side wall and into … Read more

A bit of progress this past week. Simon the electrician came and did the first fix of electrics. I think this has a different name in the US, but it involves laying out the cables before any plasterboard(drywall) goes up. Before this happens you need to have thought through the quantity/rough location of: sockets switches … Read more

calculating cable size – Voltage drop Depending on its size and length, the copper wire in a cable acts as a resistor. As current runs through the conductor, a voltage drop occurs: the voltage at the end of the conductor is lower than at the source. Smaller wires and higher currents will increase the voltage … Read more

I mentioned before that I have an electrician doing all the connections, but to keep costs down I am doing the labouring and my main job is to lay a cable between the shed and the house. When running electrical cables outside you need to use steel wire armoured (SWA) cable for safety reasons – … Read more

I bought the following sockets from screwfix: http://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-13a-2-gang-dp-switched-plug-socket-brushed-stainless-steel-pack-of-5/34718 not an exact match with the lightwaverf switch, but a bit closer than appears in the pic, where the light has caught them at different angles. Also pretty good value for £4 each. lightwaverf switch and el cheapo screwfix socket I also got a cheap but functional … Read more

obviously a critical feature in any decent shed is the ability to turn on and off the lights from the comfort of your armchair (inside the house). enter… lightwaverf launched by a British firm (JSTS) in 2011 they produce a range of remote controlled devices (including switches and sockets) that can be controlled with a … Read more

is DIY electrical work illegal in the UK? I had a vague idea that work done to the mains or to equipment directly attached to it had to be done by a qualified electrician, or at least signed off by one, and that to do otherwise was against the law. It turns out that this … Read more

After a lot of hunting around I have decided to go for these – ecoled zep2. Made in the UK and definitely not cheap (60 quid each) but top quality so far as I have read. ecoled zep2 details: 800 lumens1, which is about the same as a 60 watt incandescent bulb Coloring Rendering Index … Read more